Noncommunicable Diseases

For children fighting cancer at St.

Globally, deaths from congenital heart disease (the world’s most common birth defect) have declined 34.5% since 1990. But better diagnosis and treatments driving the improvement aren’t evenly accessible. 

Ramped-up cancer services could save 7 million lives over the next decade—and addressing huge service gaps between rich and poor countries is key to success, according to a new WHO report.  

Cancer patients have better chances of survival than ever—but managing cancer as a chronic illness can bring a lifetime of “financial toxicity.”   Breast cancer is the costliest malignancy, with medical costs slated to reach $16.5 billion in the US this year.   For…

A Mexican community of just 5,000 people has the highest rate of kidney disease in the world—and young people bear the brunt, not their parents and grandparents.   The scourge in San Pedro Itzicán has been linked to rising contamination around Laka Chapala—a key water…

At GHN, we read thousands of stories every year. Some of them stick with us even after the headlines fade. The best help us see what had been invisible, reveal a new perspective, and make us think.  

Hispanic women in the US have an outsized risk of getting—and dying from—cervical cancer. Contributing factors range from genetic to socioeconomic and cultural.   In the Rio Grande Valley, even women who access Pap smears likely won’t have access to follow-up services for…

Lots of drugs are used for epilepsy, which afflicts 1 in 26 people in their lifetime and causes crippling seizures. But very often they don’t work. One researcher described the treatment status quo as a game of whack-a-mole, using the same ineffective drugs to treat myriad…

WHO hatched a plan last year to defeat cervical cancer worldwide. To track progress toward that ambitious goal, researchers published updated numbers on the disease’s toll in the Lancet Global Health.   Here’s what they found:

Since the FDA acknowledged the link between textured breast implants and a rare lymphoma in 2011, hundreds of cases have been diagnosed.   The offending implants have been recalled, but women still must confront a lack of knowledge about this rare cancer and struggle to…